With more and more people preferring to conduct business exclusively online, a user-friendly website isn’t just desirable, it’s required if you want to be successful. These nine tips will help you instantly make your website more user-friendly and turn it into a sales generator.
1. Make your site responsive
With more than half of online searches coming from mobile devices, in order for a site to be user-friendly, it must be mobile-friendly. A responsive website gives every user a flawless online experience, whether they’re viewing your site from a desktop, tablet, or mobile device. Now how exactly do you go about making your website responsive? All SAGE Websites are responsive!
2. Place your logo in the top left
Your website absolutely must have your logo on it! Research shows the top left is the best place for your logo because this is where people’s eyes go first. If you don’t have your logo clearly displayed on your website, not only are you missing a prime branding opportunity, but you could also be confusing visitors who may think they’ve stumbled upon the wrong company’s site.
3. Include your contact information
If there’s one thing your website needs, it’s your logo. But if there are two things your website needs, it’s your logo AND your contact information. Without your contact information easily accessible on your site, you could be missing out on a lot of potential business. People will not work very hard to find this, so make sure it’s in an obvious place.
The more information you include, the better because it allows people to contact you. A phone number, email address, and business address will usually do the trick, but it doesn’t hurt to include your business hours so people know when they can reach you.
4. Add your products
SAGE Websites allow you to add any and all of the products from the SAGE database to your website automatically. This can increase your sales by allowing your web visitors to browse through products on your website.
Plus with features like ColorSense in SAGE, you can offer your customers a quick and easy way to search. When you add a color filter to your product search, your search results will automatically show all product images in that color. With Color Sense, you can easily find the right product in the right shade for your client in one easy search.
5. Add Live Chat
The more digitally dependent people become, the less we like having to do something as manual as making a phone call. Most of your visitors’ questions will be about products. They’ll want to know the material, the available colors, the imprint size, and countless more answers. Adding Live Chat not only optimizes your website for the new digital age but can save your clients from picking up the phone. Live chat is the quickest way to resolve sales questions and reduce client wait times. To learn more, read my blog on Why You May Need to Switch to Live Chat.
6. Accept online orders
Online shopping is a way of life now. People don’t like to be limited by store hours or location and don’t want to be bothered to have to go somewhere or call someone to place an order. SAGE Websites have full e-commerce capabilities, so visitors can easily place an order directly on your site. This gives your clients the freedom to do business when and where they want. It also expands your availability to potential new clients online.
Still unsure about accepting online orders? Try highlighting the option for quote requests instead.
7. Make content easy to skim
People rarely read anything word for word, but they’re more likely to read and understand the content on your website if it’s clear and concise. The best way to do this is by employing short bulleted lists. That way, your website visitors can easily skim your website for the information they’re looking for. If you’ve read my blogs before, you know I’m a big fan of a short bulleted list!
8. Add search functionality
Have you ever been on a company’s website and left out of frustration because you could not find what you were looking for? Don’t let this happen to your web visitors! Adding search functionality makes it easy for visitors to find exactly what they’re looking for quickly.
9. Include your social media icons
A strong social media presence is a must for businesses that want to be successful now and in the future. If you have active social media accounts, add them to your website to grow your following. Your web visitors will love connecting with you in this less formal environment, and you can keep them up to date on specials, hot new products, and more via your social channels.
Want to learn more about SAGE Websites and see which option is right for you? Get started with a SAGE Website today!
This article has been updated from its previous post in July 2015
Hey, this is an excellent article. I enjoyed reading the same. Your readers will surely find the same insightful. Keep the good work up :)
Thank you for reminding me that I should always add search functionality to my website to allow visitors to easily find what they are looking for.
All are valid points, according to me Call to Action buttons are also make the website user-friendly, if a page is well design and structured and there is no call to action then it is useless.
This was all excellent advice, full of great tips and things to keep in mind when creating and building a website for a business. I will be sure to keep this information handy when it's time to go about creating our own company website and logo. Thanks again for the advice!